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Comment by pjmlp | Hacker News Reader

I bet when current management leaves, as usual happens in these cases, those that worship Valve and Steam will see yet another big corporation, this if it doesn't eventually get acquired.

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What management? Gabe doesn't have any direct involvement in the running of the company at this point, in spite of being the majority owner. It's an open question what happens if he leaves or dies but it doesn't seem likely that he'd do anything to intentionally sabotage the company, like sell it off. It's more likely that ownership will transfer to a trusted party or to the employees.

At this point I think Valve is more likely to be disrupted from an outside influence rather than within, I think a lot of their actions are about keeping the ship steady. If someone does come along as an upstart in a new market as valve did with digital distribution versus retail/physical, the old is unlikely to be instantly irrelevant and obsoleted, and even then you get new markets like mobile appearing over their lifespan where both are healthy side-by-side.

To disrupt Valve's business you'd need an offering as good if not better than Steam, something several companies already tried and failed, and on top of that you need to convince everyone with buy-in to switch to your business, another monumental task. While people are happy with Steam it'll be impossible to challenge Valve as a digital distributor.

Assuming everyone at current Valve's management stays there forever, as immortals.

People keep forgetting our time is limited and nothing lasts forever.

I thought I made it clear with the rhetorical question, but there is no management at Valve due to it's flat structure. At least not in the traditional sense; it's staff are self organizing.

It's true that entropy will be the end of us all but while there are definitely things that may end Valve, "management" leaving isn't going to the thing that does it. It might be wise to learn about the company you speak so definitively about, I suggest reading the pamplet.

I would actually be intrigued to know how many companies have shown interest in acquiring Valve over the years that we'll never know about.

Whoever takes over, when who is at the wheel is no longer among us, or capable to keep doing their work.

Nothing lasts forever.

Why would Gabe give up his controlling stake if he steps down? Valve is a private company.

Because he is a mortal?

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